Critics highlighted the synergy between Basie and Sims, while also commending the bassist John Heard and the drummer Louie Bellson.

Following a financially troubled period in his career, the 1950–1960s European tours brought the pianist Count Basie back to his prior levels of popularity.

[6][7] After struggling to find performing opportunities and briefly working as a house painter in the early 1950s, by the middle of the decade he returned to music, collaborating with many artists.

[6] John Swenson, the editor of The Rolling Stone Jazz & Blues Album Guide, wrote: "Sims evolved into one of the most dependable musicians of the '50s and '60s—any recording from this period is marked by his warm-toned yet tenacious blowing.

[18] John McDonough of DownBeat magazine described it as having "the hummingbird tempo",[19] while Greg Murphy, music reviewer for Widnes Weekly News, believed the song sets tone for the rest of the album.

[18] However, in contrast to the preceding song, "Captain Bligh" is a slow blues,[20] in which "the notes seem to stick like honey to [Basie's] fingers", according to McDonough.

Discussing the version of the song on Basie & Zoot, authors of the book Jazz: From Its Origins to the Present Lewis Porter and Michael Ullman wrote: "On the 1975 version, Basie sounds exuberant, agile, free, swinging easily, as easily as if he were cutting butter".

[18] It is a slow blues, which Coda magazine's John Norris compared to the work of Jimmy Yancey due to it being "so articulate, emotional and simplistic".

Apart from the main artists, whose pairing he called "beautiful", Rusch also commended the producer Norman Granz for choosing the right musicians for the album, John Heard, whose bass he described as "sensitively walking [...] throughout the album", and the drummer Louie Bellson who is "only pushing and prodding Zoot and Basie with a delicate tension".

The critic highlighted Basie's performance and his perception of melody, while also praising Zoot Sims for "reach[ing] levels of excellence unusual even for him".

[19] Alun Morgan of Jazz Journal thought the duo complemented each other, while the musicians accompanying them "are so good that one seldom notices their presence".

[25] Commending the pairing of Basie and Sims, Alun Morgan, in his review for Gramophone magazine, highlighted the simplicity of Basie's melodies; comparing it to the work of the pianist Thelonious Monk, he described it as "exercising a droll minimalism that takes economy of means to a new extreme".